DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Prices up by $42/tonne week-on-week in latest bookings

Turkish steel mills resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases for June shipments with another sharp increase in prices, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 5.

A steel mill in the northern Turkey booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 15,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $471 per tonne and 15,000 tonnes of shredded at $481 per tonne cfr.

The same mill also booked a European cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $463 per tonne, shredded at $468 per tonne and bonus at $473 per tonne cfr. The cargo composition was not clear at the time of publication.

In the previous transaction, on Friday April 30, a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20), 8,000 tonnes of shredded, 10,000 tonnes of bonus and 2,000 tonnes of busheling at an average price of $453 per tonne cfr.

As a result of the fresh trading activities, the daily scrap indices went up sharply on Wednesday May 5.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $469.22 per tonne on Wednesday, up by $18.64 per tonne day on day.

The North Europe index was up $42.62 per tonne on a weekly basis.

And the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $473.80 per tonne on May 5, up by $18.46 per tonne day on day.

This put the premium for US material over European scrap at $4.58 per tonne on May 5, compared with $4.76 per tonne on May 4.

The main reason behind the increase was China’s Ministry of Finance removing the export tax rebate on some steel products on May 1, which caused a sharp increase in the steel prices across the region and in countries exporting steel products to China.

A steel mill was heard selling rebar to Singapore at $695 per tonne fob on actual weight basis.

Turkish rebar export offers were at $700 per tonne fob and higher, Fastmarkets was told.

In contrast, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $645-650 per tonne fob on April 29, unchanged week on week.

Long steel mill Kardemir, in Turkey’s Karabük region, opened its domestic rebar sales on Wednesday May 5, offering 12-32mm material at 6,578.50 lira ($793) per tonne ex-works, including 18% VAT, and sold at least 20,500 tonnes of material on the same day.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was just 6,000-6,100 lira ($730-742) per tonne on April 29.

What to read next
The publication of Fastmarkets’ AG-PLM-0019 refined bleached deodorised (RBD) palm olein, cfr South China assessment for Thursday July 24 was delayed due to a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Chinese corn import activity continued to be sluggish in June, dropping to 156,445 tonnes, down by 32,000 tonnes, 17%, from 188,542 tonnes in May, according to the latest data from the country’s General Administration of Customs (GACC).
China’s push for greener ferro-alloy production has revealed a significant divide between its northern and southern regions due to contrasting access to clean energy, supply and demand dynamics and regulatory environments, according to market participants.
Fastmarkets confirms its decision to discontinue its two domestic European stainless steel base price assessments.
This strategic launch is designed to better delineate the relationship between these two competing steelmaking materials. The differentials offer the market a single reference price denoting the spread between Turkey import billet and No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap (80:20) and between Turkey import billet and shredded scrap exported from the US East Coast respectively. […]
The government of Finland was ramping-up support for its burgeoning battery materials supply chain through grants for facilities owned by Easpring Finland New Materials and Fortum Battery Recycling, the firms said on Thursday July 10.